After reading here how Moppetswood Madi ran away during some fireworks display a few days ago (and is now fortunately found safe, phewww!), it is once again a proof that most Beardies, probably even more than many oher dog breeds, are hyper-sensitive to loud noises, don't you agree?

Let me tell you what happened here back in September. In a nearby mountain village, there was a lovely nature conservation day organized by a local association, with music, various environment-oriented stalls, a picnic and walks to some places around the village to see some remarkable flora. When I arrived there in the morning, I left Foxie and Miss You in the car to check if it would be ok for them. When I reached the little village square, a batucada was performing there (that's a Brazilian samba music group - various percussions and whistles), they were really good - and really loud! When they stopped playing, I went back to the car to fetch my 2 girls and came back to the centre of the village. I had my picnic there with a lovely couple I had started talking to, they had a beautiful Australien sheepdog. The afternoon walk was scheduled to start at 2 p.m., so a few minutes before that I put my cani-cross belt on myself, then the special "pulling" leashes and harnesses on Foxie and Miss You and waited for the departure... All of a sudden, only a few yards behind us... the batucada started playing again, unannounced!!! I've never seen Foxie in such a state. She was jumping around and pulling on her leash trying to run away at the same time, she had crazy eyes and was looking utterly terrified! Miss You looked slightly worried but nothing like Foxie at all! Gosh I was really glad I had put on our walking gear, as I don't think I would have been able to stop Foxie escaping if I'd had a standard lead - even then I could barely restrain her. I walked away from the noise as fast as I could and once we had reached a place at the end of the village where it wasn't so loud, Foxie calmed down slightly and I was able to ask her to sit and give her and Miss You a drink of water. We stayed there until the music had stopped and it was time for that walk. As soon as the noise stopped, Foxie was back to her usual self... There were some other dogs there with their owners (the Austrailian sheepdog among them) but none of them had any reaction when the batucada started playing... Was it the surprise at the sudden noise, or its proximity? I don't know. But next time I'll be even more careful!

In case you don't know what a batucada sounds like, this is the one who was playing that day (it's a compilation of the performances they gave in the area last summer). I really loved it and it was quite difficult not to start dancing with them! https://youtu.be/M6DzUOFUMcQ

And here is a photo of the canicross gear I use for walks when dogs are not supposed to be left free:
host photo

Last edited by Nina07 on Sun Nov 04, 2018 11:28 am; edited 1 time in total

JacquietwigFriend for Life

Joined: 20 Apr 2011
Posts: 8560
Location: East Kent, UK

Posted:
Sun Nov 04, 2018 11:18 am

Gosh that sounds scarey Nina, poor Foxie. Certainly beardies as a breed do seem to be more sensitive to loud noises than most breeds, though you do get individuals who seem to be less affected, I wonder if beardies have more sensitive hearing than some other breeds? It's good that Foxy recovered quickly once you got her away from the noise, not always the case so she must be quite resiliant.

Looks like you had a lovely walk in the end, what a good idea about the cani-cross gear

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Last edited by Jacquietwig on Sun Nov 04, 2018 2:25 pm; edited 1 time in total

JoybellsFriend for Life

Joined: 04 Sep 2010
Posts: 3953
Location: Wirksworth, Derbys

Posted:
Sun Nov 04, 2018 12:14 pm

That is really interesting Nina. Millie seems to be very sensitive. We had an awful time last evening; the fireworks started before 5 o'clock at houses very close to us - so loud it was unpleasant even for me. It continued until after 9. We sat together on the cube where she shook all evening and actually wet the blanket. I went to bed about 10 leaving her as usual in the kitchen with access to the hall. When I came down this morning she had scratched the wallpaper off the wall next to the dog gate at the bottom of the stairs.

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Nina07Friend for Life

Joined: 16 Jan 2013
Posts: 3676
Location: Ardeche - France

Posted:
Sun Nov 04, 2018 1:33 pm

Aw poor Millie, she must have been really frightened... Yes, Jacquie, I think that, despite what happened with the loud percussions, Foxie is probably one of the least fearful Beardies I know. She doesn't mind the vacuum cleaner, the lawn mower, the shots during the shooting season even if they are quite close, or lots of other noises which send my friends' own Beardies running away or hiding. Neither of my dogs have been exposed to fireworks though, as we live in this remote place in the countryside.

But some Beardies I know are frightened by the silliest noises - one of them is just terrified when her owner crumples a plastic water bottle before putting it in the recycling bin, another hides under the table when she hears the oil in a frying pan sizzle, etc... Not to mention gunshots, of course, lots of my firends' Beardies just run blindly forwards whenever they hear that noise, even really far away...

I've posted this in another thread ("Now reunited") but I think it will be better in this one as we are talking about noises that frighten our 4-legged friends.

Some time ago I saw a video here (I think it was here anyway) showing a dog at the groomer's being really nervous and frightened by the dryer used by the groomer. Then the groomer put what was called in that video a "Happy Hoodie" around the dog's head and he instantly relaxed and could be dried without any problem. I wonder if a Happy Hoodie would be effective for the loud bangs emitted by fireworks or the thunder during storms?... I've just made one for each of my 2 girls as we may have some thunderstorm later today, just by cutting a sleeve off an old jumper I don't wear anymore. The smaller end at the wrist will be for Miss You and the larger end up the arm for Foxie. These are the photos I've taken of Miss You and Foxie with their home-made happy hoodies on - laughing is definitely not allowed I think I'll sew some sort of elastic material along the ends so that they don't come unravelled.

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